Passenger vehicles and NEVs lead strong sales throughout July

Vehicle sales rose 29.7 percent year-on-year in July and the momentum is expected to continue in coming months as financial stimuli restores demand, said the country's top industry association.

China's auto sales in July totaled 2.42 million units, data from the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers showed Thursday.

Despite a 3.3 percent dip from June, it was the best-ever July for vehicle sales, said the association.

The CAAM said the passenger vehicle segment helped boost sales. In July alone, sales of passenger vehicles soared 40 percent year-on-year to 2.17 million units, data showed.

Financial stimuli measures rolled out by the State Council in June, including halved purchase tax for certain gasoline models, have played their roles, said Chen Shihua, a deputy secretary-general of the CAAM.

Paul Gong, an auto analyst at UBS China, said the lower purchase tax will increase gasoline sales by up to 700,000-800,000 units this year.

Combined with measures local authorities have rolled out, it will increase vehicle sales by around 1 million units, said Gong.

Auto sales from January to July totaled 14.48 million units, down 2 percent year-on-year, according to the CAAM. This was primarily the result of COVID-19-related disruptions.

Passenger vehicles have bucked the downward spiral. In the first seven months, their combined sales totaled 12.53 million, up 8.3 percent year-on-year.

However, sales of buses and trucks still foundered, with their sales from January to July falling 39.3 percent year-on-year.

The association said that as passenger vehicle demand is rising fast, the overall industry's sales from January to August combined are expected to see positive growth compared with the same period of 2021.

The recovery will enable China's vehicle market to see positive growth this year from 2021, said Chen.

Major carmakers saw positive growth by the end of July. Deliveries from SAIC Motor, China's largest carmaker by sales, reached 2.65 million vehicles by July, up 3.44 percent year-on-year.

New energy vehicles remain the highlight of China's vehicle market. A total of 593,000 electric vehicles and plug-in hybrids were sold in July, up 120 percent year-on-year.